Having all the parties work together on one platform on such a large project for the first time has made a big difference. “The time we used to lose waiting for other modelers, for issue management – it’s all gone. Everything is in one overview. No more emails, no more uploading and downloading,” says Rombaut.

All parties always work on the latest version of the model, which prevents a lot of mistakes and misunderstandings. Instead of comments on paper printouts, there are digital remarks, seen by everyone in the project. “It gives us a much clearer overview,” says Van Thienen. If there were issues marked on a model in Revit, and the model gets updated, the issues get taken over.

The additional transparency means that if, for example, the client makes a remark intended for stability engineers, now the architects see it, too, and sometimes catch potential issues.

“We used to have so many meetings and so many mistakes,” says Cant. “Things would fall through the cracks, or there would be misunderstandings. Now it’s all on one platform. You can look at the same thing on the screen, ask the client, “Is this what you mean?”. It’s very different from the old way of working.”

“We estimate a 50% reduction in the number of mistakes, and in the time needed to complete some project stages,” says Cant.

The customer, two real estate development companies, appreciates the new way of working, too. “BIM Collaborate Pro gives us the ability to look over the shoulder of the architects and engineering partners while they are designing, almost in real-time. We get a better feeling about the work that has been done and that needs to be done at any given moment, with the ability to make remarks and follow up on those remarks. It gives us better confidence as we plan towards construction,” says Jan Van Tilborgh, Project Manager at Cornerstones Development.